


Foundations

by mseleanor



Series: The Alternates [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Multiple Selves, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2013-04-23
Packaged: 2017-11-13 01:38:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/497994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mseleanor/pseuds/mseleanor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Tyler wakes up, goes to work and returns home at the end of a normal day. She doesn’t meet the Doctor, the Living Plastic or see the TARDIS. And from that day onwards the world she knows shifts forever, and another universe is born.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. new life

She wakes at 7:35, after lounging in her blankets for five minutes listening to her mother’s babbling and the morning news drowning out the incessant beeping of her alarm. For a moment she covers her head with her quilt and holds her breath, as if to escape from her noisy environment. But then she sighs and gets up, and her day begins. 

Crossing her room several times she retrieves the pieces of her outfit that she had chosen to wear that day. She puts on her pink jacket in absentminded tugs, and stops when she realises that it would be the third time she’d worn a garment of that colour that week. Looking around at the several mounds of clothes left all over her desk and rug, she can see no replacement jacket that would be acceptable for work and remembers, for the third time that week, why a trip to the shops was an urgent necessity. But she doesn’t have time for it. She hadn’t had much of that for herself these past weeks, no months, if she was being honest, and even when she wasn’t at Henrik’s she couldn’t remember what she did with her time anyway.

At another sharp remark from the kitchen she returns to packing her shoulder bag, does a quick brush of the front of her teeth and bolts from the room. Her mother greets her in her favourite lavender silk robe with a mug of greatly needed tea. A plate of toast and a jar of jam on the coffee table tells her that Jackie at least is having a great morning. This is later confirmed when the story of the morning’s newspaper pick-up round is told to her with elaborate detail. With a bite of bread, a sip, a big swallow and a sloppy kiss on the cheek she’s skipped out the front door. She hopes that her mother is preoccupied enough with her morning to not mind locking up after her.

She slips in beside her friend just as the back doors are opened to the department. For the next four and a half hours she’s sorting and folding clothes and showing oblivious customers to their desired aisles. Nothing happens, but the time never goes fast enough. Mickey meets her at the front with her favourite wrap and drink, chats about crabby customers at the computer shop and manages to put a smile on her face. Nothing happens for the rest of her shift, except an incident in the children’s clothing area that has her keeping an eye on the two child dummies on display. They seem to change positions every moment she looks away, but it must be another pair of kids mucking about. It isn’t anything she hasn’t faced before.

At the end of the day she’s running out the front exit with her two friends, but Fred the doorman still manages to catch her. With a sigh she takes the lottery money and goes downstairs to the leaky storage room that had always given her shivers. Wilson finds her after fifteen minutes of useless banging on every door on the level and she makes it home an hour late. She survives Jackie’s worried nagging and goes through half of her dinner before the day becomes too much and she retires to her bed for the night.

Rose Tyler rests her hand on her alarm and for a moment, she wishes she didn’t have to set it for another day of her life, her normal lifeless life. But eventually she does, and Rose goes to sleep in her bedroom in her house in the Powell Estates, not having met the Doctor, or the Living Plastic or seeing the TARDIS. She drifts to sleep not knowing the wonderful life she would have begun that day. 

And from that day onwards the world shifts a little out of place, and another universe is born in its place.


	2. new Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor comes, the Doctor goes and Rose Tyler gets into trouble.

“What…what the hell was all that!?’’

The Doctor turned around to face the accusing finger that was directed at him. Obviously this one was going to be difficult to explain to. He smiled at the frightened man before him as if it could defuse his anxiety.

“That was the Nestene Consciousness, and I just dealt with it. And I guess you helped a little bit as well.” 

He only received more goldfish-like gaping motions in response. The Doctor could see that the man was in a terrible state, if the knee shaking and the panicked position of his eyebrows on the top of his face were anything to go by. Trying a gentler approach he put a firm hand on the young man’s shoulder and shook it a little.

“You alright in there?”

“Yeah, yeah… I just… they were plastic, and that thing was…”

“Yep, all plastic and all alien.”

“And then I…”

“Threw a spanner at the plastic alien. Mind you, for a second I thought you were aiming for me.”

Wilson finally looked up at the Doctor’s face with a look of skepticism. Glad that he’d gotten the human back to his senses the Doctor gave a large grin and slapped him on both cheeks before turning back to the TARDIS. This action seemed to remind the electrician of how they escaped from below the London Eye, and his face froze once again in a state of disbelief.

“T-That’s…that’s a…”

“That’s my TARDIS, my all magnificent spaceship that can go anywhere, everywhere and anytime! But I can’t stay and tell you about every single wonderful thing it’s done, I gotta be off.”

The conversation was obviously too much for the human, and he found he could only shut his mouth and give a single absent nod in the face of such a bizarre situation. Having entered his ship and poked his head out the door, the Doctor gave his little helper a sympathetic smile.

“You sure you gonna be alright?”

Another pause and another nod. The Doctor knew that it was the best he was going to get and said his goodbyes to Wilson the electrician from the department store. He shut the door behind him and, in a rare occurrence, shrugged off his large weather-beaten jacket onto the rails of the console room. He’d faced quite a pelting of unexpected rain on his way to the Eye, with that bewildered human stumbling behind him ever since he’d saved him at Henrik’s. Good thing they’d been the only ones there. The Doctor strode over to the main console and fiddled with a couple of odd gears, initiating the TARDIS’ start-up, as he pushed himself onto a nearby chair.

The comforting groans of his spaceship prompted him to rest his eyes for a moment. He could easily be lulled into sleep by the sound, and could never understand the complaints from previous companions of the level of odd noises she produced. And he could sleep, he definitely could. The day’s mission hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary in his extraordinary travels, and in fact it had been fairly straightforward. But the Doctor had been forced to pull an elbow jab and a sneaky kick to get himself free of his plastic jailer in the midst of the battle. He could feel an odd muscle twinge in his left arm and knew it had been too long, and many regenerations ago, when he’d used that move. His new body hadn’t been ready for such activity.

But nevertheless the Doctor had had a full day of running around and felt entitled to at least a few hours of shuteye. Except, he couldn’t. There was something wrong. The Doctor opened his eyes and released a heavy sigh. Something was calling out to him at the back of his enormous Time Lord consciousness. Something that had begun ever since he’d arrived on Earth that afternoon to track down the Living Plastic. No, actually it had been a little earlier than that. He remembered that it had caught his attention for just a small second, right after he flipped the switch and set the coordinates for that day’s trip. Somehow the Doctor knew that he’d done something wrong. It hadn’t been a fixed point in time which he’d messed with, or he would have seen it coming a mile away. But all the same when he closed his eyes and focused he saw the once clean tendrils of Time shivering and cowering, almost in fright.

Something had happened, and it gave him an unsettled feeling right down to his bones. Unfortunately the Doctor hadn’t a clue what it was as he pushed the final lever for take-off.

\---

The next morning she’s late. Abandoning her cold breakfast Rose mumbled a quick apology to Jackie just as she slammed the door shut behind her. She arrived at work half an hour late, but luckily enough the latest store manager wasn’t on that day, and so Rose slipped in without more than a tap on the wrist.

It must have been her day because the luck continued well after her lunch break. After the cleaning the manager told Rose that she could leave half an hour early, since it had been a quiet night and most people had cleared off at that point. Without hesitation she took this much needed opportunity to go out for dinner with work friends Sherry and Lucy. They head to their usual restaurant and spend a couple hours just giggling about their boyfriends and throwing chips at each other. Rose returned home well fed and too exhausted to pay attention to what her mother was babbling on about. Unfortunately for her, Jackie didn’t let up and followed her into her bedroom.

“Rose, Rose! Are you listening to what I said? I heard that Henrik’s had a fire a couple of hours ago and I was so worried, you weren’t picking up your phone and I didn’t know where you were for ages! God, you could have been killed!”

Having finally heard what her mother was going on about, Rose stopped in the middle of taking off her socks and stared back.

“Really?”

Her mother gave her an incredulous look. “Yes, god didn’t you hear what I said? I thought you’d died Rose! I was so worried!”

Realising the great distress that her mother had put herself into, Rose launched into her arms and gave her a tight hug. She thought back to when Susie had let her off half an hour early, despite having come in late that morning, and was struck by the coincidence of her situation. If she’d stayed the full time perhaps she would have been caught in the fire. It had definitely been a lucky day for her.

After another hour of consoling Jackie and dissuading her from trying to claim all sorts of ridiculous compensations, Rose finally retired to bed. She found herself resting her hand on her alarm clock once again, just as she’d done every night. But with a smile she withdrew it without setting the time. That night she drifted to sleep feeling just a touch better about the world than she did before.

But the next day, and the following weeks after that, proved to be trying at best. As Jackie would remind her every morning, she no longer had a job and had to go out and search for one. Mickey came over in the morning, stealing the donut she’d saved for last to eat and spouted more exaggerated worries for her safety. She didn’t mind too much, and quickly assured him that everything was fine. What she did mind though was going job hunting. As respectful and understanding as Rose was, she was fed up by the end of the second week of resumes and small talk. She was especially tired of the sleazy stares of old store managers, who she knew kept their eyes trained on her as she walked away.

Mickey and some of her mates from Henrik’s offered to help her, but she politely declined. Somehow, despite the means in which she became unemployed, Rose felt that it was an opportunity for change. She didn’t want to work in a shop or serve burgers, she wanted something more. There wasn’t much point mentioning it to her mother, who told her to get her head out of the clouds and go back to the fish and chips shop to beg for a position. Even she couldn’t explain what she wanted. But Rose didn’t give up. She still did rounds in the city for jobs, but she knew it was not where her heart belonged.

Despite her new aspirations Rose knew she needed money, and so when she got an opportunity she jumped on it. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for and probably worse than Henrik’s, but at least she wasn’t chasing naughty kids around the dressing rooms anymore. Working as a waitress at the corner café had its downsides, but Rose soon learnt how to steer clear of unwanted attention and still manage to appear courteous and unfazed. She’d always been a fast learner, and determined to get things done. This behaviour earned her a couple more burns and welts from handling the deep fryer than had she been more careful, but she figured it out in the end. And besides, the food turned out not half bad.

Rose usually brought back leftovers from work, but had stopped recently after Jackie complained about eating the same burger and chips for dinner every night. Nothing else had come her way for a couple of days, until that night. A large order and an attempt at skipping the bill had left a couple of fish and pork pies to be shared with the staff, and Rose had nabbed the pumpkin soup before anyone else had noticed. Feeling content with her spoils she agreed to help close up, and was the last out the back door.

As she passed the café entrance she thought she heard a sound behind the brick fence. Pausing and surveying the area she felt a little ridiculous to be scared of noises, and continued on the sidewalk. But the second movement, now much closer to her, could not be mistaken. Rose moved to stand underneath a streetlamp, looking around at the heavy darkness before her.

“Hello? Is anybody there?”

She hadn’t expected an answer, let alone a string of strange syllables, to come from a hedge nearby. Rose jumped and spun to face the speaker, but found she couldn’t see anything. In fact the light she stood under did almost nothing to clear the nightfall. Without warning she found her feet being yanked out from underneath her, her hip landing hard on the pavement. Rose could see two hooded figures, about the height of pre-schoolers, standing over her body.

She opened her mouth to scream and one of her attackers shoved a bundled cloth into it, turning her scream into nothing more than a grumble in her throat. But what truly silenced her was the glimpse of her attacker’s face. The short figures soon began to bring her arms and legs together in order to bind them, until something interrupted them. Someone further away was shouting something at them.


	3. old Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being saved from a kidnapping never felt so bizarre, or wonderful, at the same time.

“Hey, you! What do you think y’doing!?” 

Rose had been half-deaf to any noises due to the shock of the situation, but she heard him now. The two kidnappers froze in mid-action, seemingly in shock. There was a stampede of footsteps, followed closely by the sight of a man in a coat sprinting towards them. The two figures exchanged a flurry of excited words before disappearing into the bushes they came from. Rose was left lying over the edge of the sidewalk, hands tied behind her back, and very much in a state of astonishment.

When the man finally came within walking distance to her he barely seemed out of breath, let alone as if he’d been running at all. Without another glance in her direction he pulled out a pen-like object from his coat pocket. It looked to be some sort of detection device which he shook while muttering a string of words, in which Rose caught not a single syllable of. After a little longer of this activity she had begun to think that he’d forgotten about her, and tried to clear her throat. It only resulted in the fabric slipping further down, followed by a wave of choking. 

The strange man finally turned his gaze to her. “Sorry, I’m just…”

As quickly as he’d begun to speak, he froze then in mid-word. Rose tried to cough, wriggling at her tight bindings and wondered at her chances of getting an idiot as her rescuer. So far he wasn’t doing so well. Eventually the man sprung to action and sat her up on the curb, pulling out the cloth in her mouth. After some spluttering Rose recovered, and turned to face the man crouching beside her. But he wasn’t there.

“You…”

Her gaze travelled upwards to find him a fair few feet away from her, with a look on his face as if he’d seen a ghost. She watched as he tried to voice the word, again and again. But they never made it off his lips. The stranger stared at her with such an intense and horrified expression, that Rose found herself getting anxious.

“Are you…okay?”

She had thought the events of the last fifteen minutes to be strange enough, without having now to take care of her own rescuer. At least he was cute, Rose told herself. Unfortunately he didn’t seem any more comforted by her words, and instead his expression grew grave. After getting no response she turned away and attempted to untie herself. But it was hopeless, the double knot was tight and her fingers were just out reach.

After a while she felt cool fingers on her wrists, and turned to find the man beside her again. Without a word he took a pair of small scissors out of his trouser pocket and cut the string. Now free, she shifted away from him and looked about herself. Without thinking she spotted her dropped takeaway a few feet away and tried to get up, before she remembered.

“Uh, thanks…for before.”

She waited for a moment, just in case he was brave enough to speak to her, before getting up and absently moving towards her possessions. But upon arriving she remembered what had caused her to drop them in the first place. The image of her attacker’s face returned to her eyes. She froze.

“My god…that thing…those things that got me…”

Rose turned to see her rescuer standing close behind her, watching her as a spectator might the main magic trick of a performance. It did nothing to dispel her growing panic. 

“Its face…it was, it was—”

“Alien.”

“What?”

“I said…it’s an alien.”

Rose stared incredulously at the man. A moment later it all got too much and she covered her face with her hands. As if propelled by this action, he immediately jumped to her side.

“Listen Rose, I know this is a lot for you to take in…”

“H-How do you know my name?”

“Just…just trust me, okay? You can trust me on this. I wouldn’t hurt you.”

She stopped to look at him. There was something in his tone, and in the way he looked at her. It was as if she was the last human being on the earth, besides himself. They now had to face what was left of the world together, and yet they were so alone. Rose looked at the man now standing very much within her personal space. He was grasping her hands tight in his, and willing her, very desperately, to believe him.

"Just for now...just trust me Rose."

After a pause, she released a heavy breath. Somehow, it seemed like the only choice she had at that moment. Rose found herself believing in him.

"...okay then."

"Alright," He smiled briefly, the first one Rose had seen since they'd met. "Let's get you back home."

"I'm not having a stranger walk me home...no offence or anything, just--"

"I know, I know it's weird, but I swear I'm not dangerous or anything, I just want to make sure you don't get attacked on the way back home."

Rose turned away and bent over to pick up her bag, but the strange man seemed to rush forward to take the load off of her. Instead she waved him off and checked to see if her pumpkin soup had leaked out completely. She was pleased to find its case still intact and without a drop spilled.

"How about this; if you're so keen to follow me home then we'll go together, but only if you explain everything that just happened, 'kay?"

He seemed to be happy with this arrangement, and so they headed off in the direction of Powell Estates. Rose felt it impolite to launch straight into her questions, and counted off a full three minutes of silent walking before she could stand it no longer.

"So...what the hell was all that?"

A bit of a smile tugged at his lips. "You were attacked by a pair of naughty Hashes; a long way from their home planet of Jebordim. You barely ever see them outside their own territory nowadays though..."

"H-Hashes? What's that?"

"They're aliens."

"...you're kidding me."

"No, I'm afraid I'm not."

"But, but aliens...aliens don't exist!"

"Aliens are very real, Rose. And you can't deny it yourself."

"But...you..." She could only look up at his face in disbelief. "What d'you mean?"

He halted in his steps and after a pause, walked over to a nearby bench. They'd made it about three-quarters of the way back, but this was a conversation that the stranger obviously felt was too urgent for delay. A moment later she sat down beside him. Once again he took her hands into his, but Rose decided she'd let him off just this time.

"You saw the face of the Hash that attacked you, didn't you? I could see it in your eyes."

"Yes, I saw its face...but it was..."

He covered her palms with his, pulling her a little closer toward him. "It wasn't human-looking, was it?"

She could see the face again, in all its grotesque and unique beauty. No matter what happened from then on, Rose knew she'd never be able to forget. It had a pair of beady red eyes, surrounded by large flaps of scaled skin and that nose. The creature didn't even have a nose, only nose flaps and nostrils. It couldn't be real, it just couldn't.

"Now listen to me Rose, listen to me very carefully. Those were creatures not from Earth. They are not human. They were born in another world, far away. And they are real, Rose. Very real."

By this point he held her face between his palms and his forehead rested against hers. She could feel his breath tickling the tip of her nose. His fingers were smoothing out the hairs sticking out on the top of her head, though she was sure he wasn't aware of doing it himself. But their sudden closeness seemed such a trivial matter then. No matter how mad the world suddenly seemed, it was real, all of it was real and Rose found that she could not deny it.

"...so aliens, are real?"

She could feel him nod his head once, firmly. "Yes, they are real. Trust me."

Slowly they moved apart from each other, and Rose stood up from her seat. She took a few shuffling steps forward, before she swivelled to face the man again. Unfortunately his expression of anxiety had returned.

"So lemme get this straight. Those...aliens...are after me?"

He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before he answered. "Yes...yes, they're after you. But I don't know why, you're just a regular human, and they're normally peaceful folk. What would they want with you?"

The man in the long coat stood up, pushing a hand through his dishevelled hair, and was about to start pacing when he caught Rose's expression. Quickly he remembered himself and stepped towards her, smiling.

"Right, sorry, just a bit out of it today, I guess. The aliens are after you for some reason, but I'll protect you from them, don't worry. They're mainly harmless creatures. I don't know what they want yet, but I'll track them down and find out."

He received no change in her overall manner from this speech. Instead he took hold of her free hand. Searching in another one of his coat pockets, which Rose was beginning to suspect held an unusual amount of things, he pulled out a mobile phone. To her surprise it was identical to hers. He placed it within her hand, curling her fingers around it.

“Use this phone to call me, whenever you’re in danger. It will work, no matter where you are.”

Rose supressed the urge to stare, and pulled out her own phone from her back pocket. But upon showing the stranger he merely shrugged and nodded.

“But, why would I need to call you?”

“Because I have to go.”

Rose was taken aback by this response. Of course she hadn’t expected to get a full-time bodyguard from alien kidnappings, and all from a day’s work. But from the way he spoke of his departure, she got a sense of finality that just didn’t sit well with her. Plus, there was so much more she needed to know from her strange rescuer. She wasn’t sure if she could handle all the new knowledge without him.

“But, why?”

“Just trust me. I don’t belong here…and I really need to go now.”

Rose opened her mouth to protest, but his grave expression had returned, and any objections she had died on her lips. He let go of her hand and turned away.

“But wait…your name. I never got your name. And who am I supposed to call when I’m in trouble?”

Rose watched as the man in the long coat halted in his step. For a moment she thought he would walk away without telling her his name. For some reason, the thought thoroughly upset her.

“You can call me…the Doctor. Just the Doctor,” He’d turned to her and for a moment a smile tugged at his lips, but then it was gone. “Goodbye Rose.”

Rose called out his name once, and then another time, but the man seemed too determined to leave to take notice. Finding herself very confused at the entire situation, she continued to watch him. It was only once he'd turned the corner and disappeared out of sight did Rose realise that she was still standing alone at the side of the street. All she could do was to take her things and return home, in the hope of making sense of the bizarre events of the last hour or so.


	4. searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose starts to search for her Doctor, but at that moment he's a little too busy to see her.

It was all wrong, and he knew it. Boy, did he know better than anyone else. He, the Doctor, the last Time Lord and 900 year old space travelling genius, should have known so much better. And yet there he was. He had gone to see Rose.

At least he was sure it had begun by accident. He hadn’t planned on making house calls; in fact his mind had been far away from it at that point. The Doctor had just returned to the TARDIS, after a short trip to the lagoons of Plosh had ended up as a luxurious fortnight holiday. Well rested and ready to go, he’d just begun to set some coordinates when the console exploded into action. Suddenly gears were being thrown and meters were sounding and the Doctor could do nothing but be thrown onto his backside, while his spaceship took him to a new destination. 

He’d stepped out of the blue box fairly excited, though thinking back now it probably hadn’t been a good idea to be so careless. Within minutes the Doctor had determined his location—Earth, London, either 2004 or 2005 and 10:46 at night. And before long he’d heard a muffled yell and some alien words being spoken, and all of a sudden he’d gotten himself into a rightful mess. The girl being attacked by scavenging Hashes had to be none other than Rose Tyler, and despite all his rules about non-interference and crossing his own timeline and whatever other promise he’d made he could not, for the damned life of him, abandon her on the street. 

The Doctor had scared the Hash clean away, but the greater task was what to do afterwards. He should have run off there and then, but then she began to choke on her gag, and he just couldn’t leave her like that. It was only afterwards that he realised that he’d already lost control of the situation. Not only was it his Rose Tyler, who now had a good look at his face, but he knew that something was very wrong. According to his vivid memory, none of the past half hour should have occurred. And yet there he was, right at the head of it.

And he had dallied. The Doctor’s number one rule in these cases was never to stay longer than necessary. But as usual, he did. Rose was devastated and he couldn’t stand to leave her so defenceless. Before he knew it he’d walked her home, allayed her fears and convinced her that aliens were real. He’d even given her her own phone. The Doctor could only hope that he hadn’t caused any more damage by giving her something from her future, or another universe, but it seemed petty compared to what he now had to deal with. 

As soon as he’d gotten back to the TARDIS he slammed the doors shut, resting his back against them. His head was spinning. He had seen Rose Tyler, and despite the urgency of her alien assault, he refused to let it slip into his memory just yet. He’d missed her, of course he did, and it had definitely been a surprise to come upon her in such a way. But it didn’t change the fact that it should never have happened. By now he’d decided on two scenarios; one was that he’d come to Earth a little earlier than his original meeting with Rose, and had somehow caused her to be attacked by the Hash, or he was in a parallel universe. However, either option was disastrous.

The Doctor had no idea of the consequences of his interaction with her. He should never have come here, should never have saved her, or continued to talk to her or promise her he’d protect her. She wasn’t his Rose, not the one he knew. The lack of recognition in her eyes had hurt, more than he’d ever admit to himself. But what he also knew was that had he known any Rose, in any universe, was in trouble he wouldn’t think twice of coming to her rescue. Sighing, the Doctor moved slowly up the ramp to a nearby seat and sat down. Then he closed his eyes and listened.

As the Doctor sat in the TARDIS, his Time Lord senses called out to him and grew stronger. The noises and sounds in his mind filtered out and mingled with the soft groans of his spaceship. The veins and tendrils of Time burned bright in his eyes. But after he honed in on his particular timeline, the Doctor was surprised by what he found. Seemingly whatever he’d just done hadn’t an effect on Time whatsoever. And it was that thought that frightened him more than anything else.

With a renewed wave of panic, the Doctor sprang to his feet. Having now identified the aliens that attacked Rose, he knew them to be a cowardly lot that tended to work together in groups of ten or fifteen. If they’d failed their mission they’d return home to recuperate. He hadn’t been able to get any trail of them on Earth, but he figured a quick investigation at their home planet of Jebordim might help. Without further hesitation he jumped to the console and began flipping several levers. Soon enough, they were off.

The Doctor arrived shortly in an abandoned teleportation bay, and figured that someone had expected him to visit. He stepped out into a badly lit room, where there was barely anything is sight except the other teleportation pads. Trying to adjust to the light he walked towards the doorway at the end of the chamber, but halted when he heard a sound. But despite his precautions the Doctor had already been trapped. Suddenly his feet were being swept out from underneath him, just the same as Rose’s had been. He recognised the language of his attackers immediately, but was helpless as they gagged and tied him up. This time the Hash finished their job. The only thing the Doctor could manage was one last muffled protest before the darkness took him. 

 

\--

 

It had been a month since her encounter with the Doctor, and Rose was still determined as ever. So far she hadn’t been able to tell the whole story of her encounter with him and the Hash to anyone. But considering how outrageous it was, Rose hadn’t expected to. She knew it was crazy, but unlike anyone else she knew it to be true. Jackie had been upset when she returned home so late that night and wasn’t open to any excuses, let alone an alien conspiracy theory. She’d even made the mistake of mentioning it once to her workmate, who would then always greet her as ‘Spock’. But Rose was unfazed. She knew the truth, because she had met the Doctor.

The one person who seemed to hold a semblance of belief in her story was her boyfriend, Mickey. He’d been the only one who she could discuss her secret research with, and had not simply laughed in response. While Mickey never told Rose what to do, she knew she wasn’t making things any easier for them with her fascination for aliens. But he continued to stick by her, and drive her to meetings with fellow conspiracy nerds. He may not have believed her story, but Rose didn’t need that, and was grateful for what he did for her. 

So far she had managed to find quite a bit of information on her mysterious Doctor. While the majority had ended up to be online dating ads and dodgy medical services, there were some interesting things. Her best find was Clive, who apparently had a collection of the mysterious man at various times in history and in different faces. While she dismissed the idea of him being ‘immortal’ and hundreds of years old, the phrases ‘alien’ and ‘time travel’ began to command her attention. From then on she threw herself into the search with renewed fervour.

Jackie soon began to complain about the amount of time she spent out at the internet café, so Rose was forced to explain what she’d been up to. As expected, the conversation didn’t go well. After a long night of short tempers and arguing, they eventually settled down for the night. But it was a sleepless one for Rose. Her head was clouded with doubts, the first ones since she’d met the Doctor. When confronted by her peers and Mickey, she’d only felt stronger about her beliefs. But the same couldn’t be said for her mother. 

Rose had woken up the next morning, prepared to continue the fight. But upon her return from work, the pair made up instantly. Jackie promised to believe in whatever her daughter told her from then on, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. It was a large step for her mother, and Rose knew it as they embraced tightly. 

After some prompting from Jackie, they sat down on the sofa for a proper talk. She came out with all that had occurred since the alien encounter and before Rose knew it, she was in tears. Without a word Jackie had her arm around her, tissues in her hand and her daughter’s head resting upon her shoulder. They spent the whole night in that position, and by the time they woke the next day Rose felt considerably better.

But since then she hadn’t wanted to think too much about the Doctor. Rose supposed that the past month had been quite tough on her. Not only had her research gotten nowhere, but her hours at the café had become exhausting. After too many instances of dropping dishes and snapping back at customers, she had been let off. Rose been expecting it and had accepted the decision, but since then her jobs had gotten worse and worse. Perhaps that was why she cried that night.

Nevertheless something was upsetting her, and Rose wasn’t the sort of girl to let something get her down. After weeks of pondering, she decided that it was time to stop searching for the Doctor. It had all been one crazy bad idea anyway, and she hadn’t planned for it to drag on for so long. Having ‘the Doctor’ as his only identification hadn’t made things any easier either. Not to mention that she hadn’t the slightest idea of what to do once she saw him again. 

But the truth was that Rose Tyler was lonely. She’d had a glimpse of an entire other world, and she was the only one who had seen it. Her, and the mysterious man called the Doctor. She knew her life could never be the same again. All of a sudden Rose wanted to know everything about the world. She wanted to stand among the stars and travel through space. And she wanted to see life through the Doctor’s eyes.

But the Doctor was nowhere to be found, and Rose knew she could no longer keep it all to herself.

So she packed up her research and returned the books to the library, ready to move on. Time passed, jobs came and went, and life returned to normal. But then something happened. Something alien. And all of a sudden she wasn’t the only person speaking about extra-terrestrial life. It turned out that a spaceship had crash-landed into the Thames, and Rose was damned if she wasn’t going to be there at the site, investigating for herself.


	5. the man at the door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the first touch, there was no going back. Aliens seemed especially attracted to her.

Rose had big plans for the day. First she’d head down to the crash site early in the morning, hopefully before the majority of the crowd appeared. Then she would somehow get through police clearance, with a little help from her friend Ricky. He was a junior officer and a close schoolmate of hers, and she had convinced him to lend her his credentials just for the weekend. She knew she probably wouldn’t be able to see the spaceship up close, but the least she could do was poke around where she wasn’t wanted.

But in the end she would have been better off staying at home and watching the news. Even on her way to the site Rose encountered major road blocks, enormous crowds and countless detours that left her going around in circles. She tried to reach the nearby buildings to get a look from the roof, only to be rejected at each doorstep. Her fake ID made no difference either. By 2pm she’d spent five hours walking about aimlessly and had ground a hole in one of her shoes. The majority of the crowds had thinned down to some dedicated news reporters, and Rose found herself wandering alone.

Eventually she turned around for home. All she wanted to do was throw her bag off and collapse onto her bed, but unfortunately that afternoon the Tyler’s had a visitor. Upon entering the front door she found herself greeted by a rather large local policeman, who had jumped up from his seat at her appearance. He seemed to be relieved at her arrival, and Rose couldn’t blame him after being stuck alone with her mother for what must have been quite a while.

“And this must be Rose Tyler, of the Powell Estate.”

He had an odd way of pronouncing his words, as if he was still getting used to the fit of his mouth, but other than that Rose found nothing she could put against him. She couldn’t very well chuck him out, just because she’d had a bad day. She gave him a small smile. 

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Oh Rose, this nice policeman here’s come to check up on us. All part of the new ‘taking care of us’ scheme that’s been going about these past months, the one that we were laughing about just the other day? Well, turns out they really meant it when they said check-ups, hey? Now this is the way to go, taking care of all the little people, cos they’re the ones that matter, you know what I mean?”

After this lengthy speech the visitor introduced himself as Constable Strickland, accompanied by another toothy smile. Rose nodded, and gestured for the policeman to sit down before her mother spoke another word. She took off her satchel and was about to make her way to the kitchen for a glass of water, when he suddenly cleared his throat and interrupted her.

“Now ah, Rose Tyler. There’s something in particular I need to speak to you about,” Upon seeing Jackie’s eyebrows jump up in surprise, the policeman hurriedly continued. “It’s just standard procedure ma’am, nothing to worry about. I assure you your daughter’s not in any sort of trouble.”

The stocky man flashed a pleasant grin at Jackie, then at Rose. She couldn’t help but feel as if there was a sinister meaning behind it, but later dismissed the thought. Her mother delayed as long as she could before she got up and walked into the kitchen, taking the policeman’s empty mug for a refill and left them alone in the living room. There was a short pause before he spoke again.

“Now Ms Tyler, I’m afraid I have some news for you. But the thing is that it might upset your mother. This is why I’ve asked her to give us some privacy.” Strickland motioned at the kitchen door with his head, before leaning forwards. “But I think she might still be listening to our conversation, so I’m going to whisper it in your ear, okay?”

Despite not being entirely comfortable with the situation and suspicious as to what exactly he had to tell her, she followed his lead and leaned towards him. All of a sudden he took a hold of the back of her head and with the other hand, forced a rag to her nose and mouth. Thoughts of her alien attack flashed before her eyes, as she struggled against his grip on her face. She tried to yell for help, but her mother had put the kettle on and the noise drowned her out. He was stronger than her, and eventually she turned limp in his arms. Without a sound he bundled her up in his arms and snuck out the door, grinning like a thief. 

By the time Rose regained consciousness she knew she was a long way from home. She’d been completely tied up, gagged and left in an empty storage room of sorts. But what she could figure out was that it was actually the back of a moving van, which was going at an alarming speed if the car honks from outside were anything to go by. She’d also gotten a few bruises on her shins, which were probably from being thrown into the van. But overall she was fine. Now all that was left was to figure out a way to escape.

The ride to their destination was long, which gave Rose time to ponder over the situation. She hoped that her mother and Mickey were safe, and that she was the only one in danger. A vibration in the back pocket of her jeans reminded her that they were all worried about her, but with her hands tied as they were she had no hope of answering her mobile. 

However, what she could do was see a connection between the attempted kidnapping over ten months ago and the one at present. The Doctor had told her that the Hash were after her, but he hadn’t known why. And then almost a year later an alien spaceship crashes into the Thames, and she gets kidnapped by a fake police officer. It couldn’t be coincidence. For some reason someone was after her. 

She was trying to brainstorm all the ways she could have insulted anyone to the point of needing to be kidnapped, when she noticed two things. First was that the car honks had stopped and they had been travelling without interruption for some time. And the second was the sudden scream of her driver. Except it wasn’t exactly a scream, but more like the agonised howl of an animal being caught in its trap. The getaway van was now swerving violently out of control and before she knew it there was a great thud, and Rose’s body was thrown into the side of the car. 

A moment later she opened her eyes, checking the state of her surroundings. They had crashed somewhere, and the jolt had given her a nasty bump on the forehead. But she soon realised that it had given her something much better—a chance to escape. With the vehicle stationary and one of the backdoors swinging on its hinge, Rose wriggled her way toward it as fast as she could. Upon reaching the door she fell out the car and flat on her backside. Luckily for her it hadn’t been much of a drop, and she’d landed upon grass. She looked around at her surroundings and saw that they’d travelled quite a way off the highway, through a wire fence and onto a field nearby. The large van sat with its front bumper smashed against a great rock, but to Rose’s eyes it still seemed operational. All the more reason for her to get out of there. However the gags and binds were still tight as ever, and no matter how she turned and twisted she couldn’t seem to get to her feet.

A new wave of panic hit her as she heard the sound of banging against the car door behind her. Rose yanked at her wrist bindings and tried again to get upright, only to fall hard onto her back. By the time she’d struggled into a kneeling position the noises had stopped, and she just knew that her kidnapper had escaped the vehicle. Rose didn’t waste any time to glance backwards, and began to scramble over the small mound and to the edge of the road. 

She eventually pushed herself over the dune. Her jeans were now ripped, her knees bleeding and there was dirt in her mouth but she tried to keep focused. However as she looked up at the street, she frowned. It just happened that her kidnapper had been smart; using a route that had very little traffic, and with only a couple of truck drivers who were too bored to notice her. But before she could do anything else she was grabbed from behind. As she dangled mid-air in his grasp she saw him smile slowly from the corner of her eye. She could only shudder in response. 

“There you are, Rose Tyler. Now there’s no point in struggling, so why don’t you just stop so we can get this over and done with?”

It was at this point that Rose could no longer contain her fear and began to scream. But no one could hear her muffled cry except her captor, as he shoved her back into the van.

 

\--

 

After succumbing to sleep, Rose woke to find herself in a different location completely. Her kidnapper must have gotten her to their secret base, but she couldn’t help feeling as if she’d seen her surroundings somewhere before. She had been left against the wall of a large room, fitted with gold framed windows and velvet curtains. In the centre of the chamber was a set of black lounge chairs around an ornate glass coffee table. For some reason Rose knew she’d seen this particular setting several times, though it was usually bustling with people with cameras and microphones. She recognised the antique mirror on the back wall, the exact one that Jackie had always remarked upon whenever it came up on the news. It was then that Rose realised that she was in one of the rooms of 10 Downing Street.

But before she could wonder why on earth she’d ended up there, she heard a series of footsteps heading towards the door on the other side of the room. She looked down to find herself still tied up in much the same way as before, and instead tried to roll her body towards the lounge chair to hide. But by then Constable Strickland had entered and seen her feeble attempt at escape. He rounded on her, grabbing her by the collar of her jacket.

“And where do you think you’re going, Ms Tyler?”

Her captor seemed to be in an amused mood, and decided to ungag her. As soon as she could Rose spat straight into his eye. 

“Why are you doing this!?”

He meticulously wiped the spit from his face with a handkerchief before answering her. “Now it’s no good doing that. You never know, I could have let you go if you’d behaved.”

“I don’t think I’m gonna be freed just cos of good behaviour. What is it that you want from me?”

“Oh, I’ve got a feisty one here.” He chuckled, and the voice that came out sounded as if it hadn’t come from his mouth but from somewhere else. The whole thing made Rose’s stomach turn. “You should know why you’re here.”

She stared at him dubiously. “I don’t have a clue what you’re on about!”

He seemed to be delighted by her response, and stood up straight. “Well then, you’ll soon find out.”

Strickland let her go and rested a hand on his forehead, his fingers searching for a latch to which he then began to pull at. To Rose’s horror it turned out to be a zip of some sort, which hid something else entirely. Before she knew it she found herself in the company of an alien for the second time in her life. She soon realised there were many types of aliens, and the one before her looked vastly different than the Hash. It was a large green creature with a fat body, long claws at the ends of its hands and a metal collar around its long neck. The skin of Constable Strickland lay on the floor like a wetsuit. She couldn’t help but stare at the empty sockets where his eyes should have been.

The creature grabbed Rose by her bindings, and she found she no longer had the strength to resist. She could only watch helpless as he carried her out the room and into another, where a whole crowd of green aliens stood outside a metal wall. Upon this sight Rose recovered, and a new surge of fear took over her. She realised now that she wasn’t in a simple kidnap and ransom incident, but something more dangerous that she could possibly have imagined. 

The other green creatures regarded her with amusement, before the sound of metal grinding caught their attention. The metal bulkhead they stood before was lifting. Rose couldn’t see much from her viewpoint on the floor, but she could spot a pair of human female legs standing among the aliens. Soon enough the door had lifted, and on the other side was some sort of meeting room. There was also a person in pants and black shoes on the other side that now faced the aliens.

“Now Doctor, we have been very fortunate today. Not only did we set up this genius plan to sell the Earth’s remains, but we also set up a trap to bag the largest bounty in the universe. But instead you just hand yourself in! Now if only others could learn to follow your example.”

“What do you mean? What you talking about?”

“Why, we even went to all that trouble of kidnapping your precious human in order to lure you to us. But it seems she was a waste of time, since you came straight to us.”

At this point Rose became alarmed, and tried to edge closer to the doorway. She guessed that the female voice had to be that of the alien still in human disguise, and the other must be the man on the other side of the door. But Rose knew it wasn’t the Doctor’s voice that had replied. This man had a distinct northern accent, after all. She was craning her neck to get a better look when she was suddenly lifted off the ground. One of the aliens, which she could no longer differentiate between, had grabbed her and shoved her to the front of the crowd. It was there that her head made contact with the chest of the so-called ‘Doctor’, and she found herself turning and falling. 

The man was winded by the force of the push and together they collapsed onto the floor. But as she fell Rose hit her head on the corner of a nearby chair and fell hard onto the carpet. The last thing she saw was the leg of the table before her eyes went dark.


	6. trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two different Doctors find themselves in a sticky situation each.

It had definitely been a most interesting day so far for the Doctor. He even remembered getting an odd feeling early that morning, as if something was coming. But then again it was rare that his warnings could tell him what to look out for. Especially if it involved travelling to parallel universes, being kidnapped by Hashes and then sold on the intergalactic black market of Greeb. He probably should have paid more attention to it. But then again, it had been a whole day of not paying attention and doing all the wrong things. 

The Doctor had found himself in yet another perplexing situation. After the Hash had knocked him out in the teleportation bay, he’d woken up in a small grey cell. It was fairly standard as detention cells went, and he could tell by the writing on the walls outside his cage that they were in Greeb Central. He was in the infamous city of the Dealer; beings from all walks of life that made their living capturing and trading goods that were illegal in almost every planet. But the city itself was under the rule of the Family of Kaif. The Doctor wondered how Hash scavengers had ended up here of all places, but figured that they’d been bribed or blackmailed into doing service. He knew they weren’t his problem anyway. If there was anything funny going on around there, it would be because of the Family. 

So far he hadn’t had any ideas as to why he’d been kidnapped. The Doctor hadn’t travelled to this part of the cosmos for many years, and even then he had been very reluctant to take on one of the most powerful crime families of the universe. Black markets were no place for a Time Lord, and especially a renegade survivor of an entire species for that matter. It was possible that he’d insulted or opposed a Dealer from Greeb, but he couldn’t think how he’d managed to do it. Not to mention why they’d sprung a trap now. 

The Doctor was still reviewing the particulars of his latest travels when he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Around the corner of the large chamber his cage sat within, a metal door parted and a large Greebian guard entered. The Doctor could tell straightaway that this one was of the proud warrior race, from his dark purple horn, large ornate spear and the intricate carvings upon his bronze breast plate. However he also wore a single black collar around his stocky neck, which was the mark of shame within his kind. No wonder he’d been left with guard duty. Without any acknowledgment the guard settled in his position beside the cage, head high and arms crossed.

“Hello there, how are you doing? I’m the Doctor, by the way.” The Doctor pushed a hand through his dishevelled hair before he carried on. “And you must be a warrior of Greeb, am I right? It’s nice to meet you.”

All he received was another silent shake of the head. The Doctor went on nonetheless. “Say, do you have any idea why I’m here? I mean I’ve got some ideas, well about six, but I really don’t like the sound of any of them to be honest. I’m kind of hoping this is some great prank by one of those Plith tricksters.” He chuckled, and a grin lit up his stern expression. “Now they are some naughty little buggers.”

This time the Greebian showed no sign of having heard him at all. But the Doctor continued to chat, which was what he usually did in such situations. “I mean I’m sure you’re busy, very busy during your break time. I mean, your last invasion was about a month ago, wasn’t it? You must not be doing much at all, unless you’ve been hired as a Dealer bodyguard, but then you can’t have been because you’ve been shamed, and that means you’re left with one of the lowest jobs there are—guard duty.” 

Suddenly the Doctor was hit square in the chest by the butt of a spear. He fell to the ground, gasping. The Greebian let out a gruff sigh, and retracted his weapon from the cage. Unfortunately for the guard, the hit hadn’t been enough to wind the prisoner and keep him silent. Within seconds the Doctor was up and talking at an alarming speed. 

“Now that wasn’t very nice, was it? I’m just trying to make some conversation, it’s been mighty boring here to be honest, and talking to myself is not half as fun as with someone else, well, not that you’re much conversation but it’s—” He finally paused for a long overdue breath. With his jaw beginning to ache from all his chatting, the Doctor changed tactics. “So come on, tell me. Why am I here?”

“You will be silent, Doctor.”

It had been the first words his unfortunate sentry had spoken, and the heavy timbre of his words reverberated against the stone walls. The Doctor could imagine the grim expression that would accompany it. If he’d been in a better situation he would have sincerely looked forward to making the discovery, but now was not the time.

“Yes, you know who I am because you’ve obviously been briefed by your superiors, but how do your superiors know?” By this point the prisoner was pacing the length of his enclosure, one hand in his trouser pocket and the other scratching at his forehead in the midst of deep concentration. 

“Unless… there’s been a hit put on me, and my head is going for the highest bounty in Greeb at this very moment.” He halted and turned straight towards his guard, who still refused to face him. The Doctor’s patience was now running dangerously thin. His face was now pressed right up against the bars, his smile gone.

“What I want to know is, who’s behind this? Who wants my body on their mantelpiece? Who is it?” 

No answer.

“Come on, tell me something! I’m pretty much a dead man anyway! You’ve taken all my gadgets and gizmos, and even my jacket. It’s getting cold in here, you know. I know it wasn’t the Hash, they’re harmless folk. Was it—”

At that moment the jailor banged his spear upon the stone floor, cracking the tile right through the middle. He then slowly turned to face his prisoner and bared his great teeth.

“The next time you speak, it shall be your head beneath my spear.”

But the Doctor didn’t flinch. Instead, his smile returned. “No I don’t think so, because you need to finish this job so that you can be eligible to re-enter service. And besides, taking the prize of killing the Doctor from the Dealers will give you more than a demotion, I’ll tell you that. Just tell me one little thing…just a tiny little thing… who called for the hit?”

By this point prisoner and guard were face to face, and the former was getting dangerously close to the latter’s horn. He became wary of this and let go of the rails to take a step back towards the cell wall. But the Greebian warrior proceeded to lean his horn in between the bars as far as it would go, with his sharp, angular teeth on show for all to see. Suddenly the Doctor felt that the wall against his back wasn’t far enough away from the Greebian as he’d like.

“Who else could it be but the masters themselves?”

The Doctor’s face fell. But before he could contemplate any further, he heard many footsteps coming towards the chamber. His guard immediately stepped away from the cell and stood at attention, as other Greebians entered the room in a close formation. Without a word the guards exchanged a number of arm gestures, before his jailor turned and walked out the exit and left the Doctor alone with the three guards. Judging by their appearance, he seemed to have been lucky to have such a talkative cell keeper in the first place. If there was one thing each of his new guard’s wanted from him it would be obedient silence, according to the menacing stares he was receiving. He’d already wasted all his energy trying to get the first guard to spill, and his replacements seemed even more unfriendly. Without a word they entered his cell and proceeded to cuff his hands and feet. Before long they were dragging him out of the chamber.

The Doctor didn't resist as they walked him to what he believed would be the auction area. The owners of the auction, the Family of Kaif, were very rich and loved ceremony, and would have a horde of guests and bidders to show off their latest prize. But he knew they were never reluctant to soil their rugs with blood if needed to. They were a very bad lot, and the Doctor had so far managed to avoid them. But why they suddenly wanted his head as their table ornament was lost on him. Not to mention that it made things particularly difficult to escape from. 

It was while being dragged through room after room that the Doctor thought that having a companion would have been good at a time like this. It certainly meant that he could relax once in a while and just enjoy being rescued. But he stopped at the next line of thought. He’d been doing just fine by himself, and besides, the kidnappings and traps were regular occurrences of his extraordinary life. He had escaped countless scrapes in the past alone, and was likely to escape from the present one. But then his mind returned to his last friend Martha, then to all of his beloved companions, and the Doctor suddenly felt miserable. 

By now he was tired, and didn’t bother to stop the next thought that came to his mind. Rose Tyler, the girl who was trapped inside a parallel universe, who was also the girl he’d met just that morning. The Doctor knew they were different people, and that the girl he’d met today could never take the place of the girl buried inside his memory. But as he thought back to their meeting, it dawned upon him that she’d been his bait. It brought a soft chuckle to his lips. Somehow, no matter what universe; Rose Tyler would always be the Doctor’s greatest weakness.

She was probably safe, now that the Hath had found what they were searching for. At least he didn’t have to worry about that. However as he was entered into a hallway filled with aliens of all kinds, watching him with laughing eyes, he decided that it was about time to start worrying about himself for a change. He had entered the auction chamber, and soon the bidding for the last Time Lord would commence.

 

\--

 

“Doctor!”

Without quite knowing how, the Doctor found himself lying on the ground. The Slitheen held a human girl hostage and had pushed her in his direction, and the both of them had crashed to the floor. Ignoring Harriet for the moment, he rolled over to get a look at the girl lying beside him. In dismay he saw that the top of her scalp was bleeding and that she was unconscious. Sitting up properly he put a finger to her exposed neck, and was relieved to find her pulse. 

Margaret and the other Slitheens laughed as they watched the Doctor tend to her. “You might as well have her now, she’s useless to us. Consider yourself lucky to be with your beloved before we sell you in the auction!” 

He was about to reply when Harriet pressed the button at the side of the door, which caused the partition to come down again. When they were safe again he gestured for her to come towards them. So far she’d been a great help to the Doctor, although he was still at a loss to where he’d read her name from. She brought her jacket with her and upon seeing the girl’s injury, carefully lifted the blonde head into her lap and used it to apply pressure to the wound. The Doctor looked on, satisfied.

“So, you know this girl?”

“Nope.”

“But the Slitheen…they said you knew her.”

The Doctor stopped his pacing and looked to the girl in question. He was sure he never forgot a face, and he was sure he’d never seen hers. “They must’ve got it wrong; never seen her in my life.”

Harriet didn’t ask any further, and instead started upon the girl’s bindings. Whoever she was she looked to be in quite a bad state, judging by the dirty state of her clothes. She must have been kidnapped by the Slitheen and had the most awful fright of her life, much like the one she had experienced only several hours ago. Looking back at her day so far, she could still hardly believe it to be true. But knowing that her full attention was needed elsewhere, she tucked her thoughts away for the moment. Meanwhile the Doctor had had a great idea, a plan that could save his, Harriet’s and the lives of every person on Earth. However, it was dangerous. He threw the idea around in his mind, judging and measuring and comparing to the last detail before he realised that he’d given himself a headache. It was going to be another major decision, and it rested solely upon his shoulders. But after some time he remembered Harriet, who had by now finished with the girl’s bindings and had returned to holding her head.

“Harriet, do you have a phone on you?”

She rummaged through her coat pockets but came up empty-handed. “I must’ve dropped it when I was hiding in the…” She stopped as her eyes fell on a mobile phone some distance away from her. It must have been the girl’s, and it had fallen out of her pocket when she fell. The Doctor followed her gaze and went to pick it up. 

“What are you going to do with it?”

He was busy punching numbers in the keypad and didn’t meet her gaze. “I’ve got a way to save everyone Harriet,” With a pause he looked up from the small phone screen and his expression turned thoughtful. “But we might not make it through the process.”

Harriet didn’t flinch and her gaze remained strong, forcing the Doctor to return it. She waited until he did before asking another question. “And how are you going to do it?”

“I know someone from UNIT who can launch a small missile here, which will wipe out the Slitheen. But the bulkheads might not survive the direct hit.”

The Doctor watched Harriet carefully as she ran the proposition through her mind again and again. He gave her time to weigh the options before making her decision. But despite her response, he knew that he’d always be the one to make the choice. And he knew what he had to do.

“Then do it, Doctor. The entire world is at stake here. We must do our duty to it.”

He nodded once, and pressed the dial button on the mobile. Within minutes he was talking to an old friend who, after some argument, eventually believed him to be the Doctor. From there on his orders were put through without interruption. There was nothing left to do but to pick up the unconscious girl and huddle inside an empty closet, hoping that Harriet hadn’t been wrong to put her trust in him.

But against all odds, they were unharmed. The missile came and destroyed the area around them, blowing the Slitheens out of their skins. The metal room took a great pounding, and its occupants were thrown many times over. But when the dust had settled and Sergeant Price had the door pried open, Harriet and the Doctor, who held the unconscious girl in his arms, emerged from the rubble. The paramedics and news reporters soon swarmed upon them, and the girl was lifted onto a stretcher and loaded into the back of an ambulance. The Doctor dodged his way out of the crowd, and upon turning round saw Harriet Jones at the centre of the horde. She had her ID card out again, and was calmly giving orders in all directions. 

The Doctor smiled to himself. Now he remembered why her name had been familiar to him. His work was done for that day. The Earth was saved, and millions of humans could live another day of their brilliant lives. But as the ambulance went racing down the street, he couldn’t help but wonder about the girl. 

The Slitheen had said that there was a bounty on his head, and that the girl had been his bait. They ended up being very wrong about her, but news of a manhunt was worrying. He took out her mobile phone from one of his pockets and scanned it quickly with his sonic screwdriver. He found that her name was Rose Tyler, a nineteen year old who lived in 15 Powell Estates in London with her mother Jackie Tyler. In his opinion, she seemed the most unlikely person to be caught up in alien affairs. But then again, there could be more to her than just being another oblivious ape stuck in the 21st century. 

Since the Doctor had gotten all he could out of the phone he decided to drop it off at the hospital. His next stop would be further investigation into exactly what the Slitheens had meant. Without further thought on the human girl, he turned and walked off towards his TARDIS.


	7. off the track

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose struggles with the aftermath of the kidnapping.

“—and I said, I always said to her…”

“—imagine how I reacted, when I found…”

A voice was calling to her, stirring her out of sleep. She felt the rough sheets against her arms and wriggled her toes that hadn’t been covered with the blanket until they felt normal again. A breeze floated over her face to tickle the tip of her nose, tempting her to open an eyelid. Rose did, followed by the other and saw a half-open window on a white wall. Outside, a line of rose bushes along a pathway lead to a car park and an overhead sign. She was at the local hospital.

In the background she heard two voices engaged in a hushed conversation nearby. With her blurry vision she turned towards them. The first she made out as her mother and the other a stranger, who noticed that she was awake. But soon enough Jackie caught on, and within seconds had thrown her arms around her bedridden daughter. 

“My god Rose, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was worried sick when I found you missing from the apartment.” She had her daughter’s cheeks between her palms and squeezed hard. “And with that policeman, too! My god, he was no policeman at all Rose!”

Despite her uncomfortable position, Rose could only nod and smile back at her mother. She was far too glad to see her to bother interrupting. It was only in that moment that she truly realised how worried she’d been for her. The pair of them then took the next few minutes to alleviate their fears and worries to each other, followed by a lengthy rant from Jackie about fake policemen and suspicious activity in the neighbourhood. It was only when she’d been forced to stop for air, did either of them remember the presence of the other woman in the room. A quick look exchanged between the two visitors, before the unexpected happened. Jackie Tyler stood up, brushed herself down and took a step away from the bed.

“Now Rose, this lady here wants to talk to you for a bit. Says she was with you when you were taken, and if it weren’t for her you’d be bloody anywhere by now.” She turned and gave the patient woman a smile before adding, “So I’ll be waiting outside for a bit, ‘kay?”

Not knowing exactly what was happening, Rose watched as her mother made an unusually obedient exit from the room. In any other instance, her mother would never leave her alone for at least two hours after having suffered an accident. She turned her attention to the stranger, whose face she didn’t recognise. The woman wore a smart coat and skirt, and gave Rose what she thought was a smile that a politician often made when addressing the public. She held up a card with her left hand as she began to speak.

“Hello, my name is Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. I…” she paused, before taking a tentative seat on the chair closest to the bed. She took a quick glance around the room for any patients or attendants who might overhear them, before leaning closer towards the bed. This behaviour only added to Rose’s confusion. 

“I was with you when the Slith—I mean, the aliens, held you hostage. The Doctor and I saved you from them.”

Harriet only received a blank look in response. Rose was about to ask what she was going on about, and how she’d ended up in a hospital bed. The last thing she remembered was being in room that looked suspiciously like one used for holding interviews with the Prime Minister, where a constable who wasn’t a—Rose blinked for a while as the bizarre events of the last few hours returned to her. For a moment she wondered how she could have forgotten such an impossible few hours as those she’d just had. The woman’s words circled back to her, and one in particular caught her attention. The word alien. 

Her visitor reached out a hand to hold hers, seeing the distress plainly in Rose’s face. It was this gesture that drew her back to the present. Taking deep breaths, Rose spent a few seconds trying to make sense of the fierce emotions and thoughts running through her head. It was only once the shock had subsided that the latter part of what Harriet said caught up with her. Rose bolted upright in her bed, giving the woman another fright.

“Did you say, ‘the Doctor’?”

Harriet wondered why the girl was asking about a doctor of all things, instead of the aliens who had kidnapped her. Nevertheless, she answered her question. “Yes, the Doctor. At least that’s what he called himself. I don’t know anything about him, to be honest.” She paused, and looked up as if she could see him in her mind. A corner of her lips curled up. “It’s strange how little we know of the man who just saved the world from destruction.”

Rose had seen this Doctor as well, although it had been only a brief glimpse of his legs at the time. Her head later collided with his chest when the aliens had shoved her aside, and it was the last thing she could remember. But from those sparse sights alone she knew he wasn’t her Doctor. If his different clothes and different body type weren’t enough, his distinct Northern accent sealed the deal completely. Harriet Jones couldn’t be talking about the same Doctor Rose was looking for. And yet, something didn’t feel right. She’d never heard of any other person referred to as the Doctor before. The coincidence seemed too obvious to ignore.

“I didn’t get a chance to see him, after we got out of the meeting room. He must’ve slipped off during all the chaos.”

Rose listened, but her mind was already elsewhere. She knew there had to be a connection between the two. Perhaps they belonged to a brigade of crime fighters who each called themselves ‘the Doctor’. At the very least, they were both the sort of dashing hero to rush in at the last moment and save the day, only to escape without notice when it was all over. 

Harriet continued to speak, interpreting Rose’s absent look as disbelief at her circumstances. She explained what had happened while Rose was unconscious, and how the Doctor foiled the Slitheen’s plans to trigger the start of World War III by sending a small missile to destroy 10 Downing Street. When prompted, she described the Doctor in as much detail as possible, which proved further to Rose that the two Doctors were two different people. 

“I think that’s he’s not like us, that he’s also an alien. He said he was. That’s the only way he could have communicated with them in that way.”

“Alien…he’s an alien?”

By now Rose’s mind was buzzing with ideas. Before this day she would have laughed at the thought of the Doctor being an alien, but that was before she’d been kidnapped by a policeman who ended up being an ugly green monster. Perhaps there was a species of aliens who called themselves ‘the Doctor’. They looked human and as normal as anyone else, but perhaps they could take on other forms, like disguises. The image of the damp human suit her kidnapper had used flashed before her eyes, and she shuddered. Rose hoped that he wasn’t that sort of alien, or really an alien at all. So far her extra-terrestrial experiences had been somewhat less than pleasant. 

After their talk her mother returned, and Rose bid farewell to her new friend Harriet. She would definitely take her up on her kind offer to visit whenever the whole alien situation overwhelmed her. She was some sort of politician, so perhaps she could even help in her search for the Doctor. But all that would come later. First she had to prevent Jackie from harassing the nurse and get herself up and out of hospital. Luckily for Rose the medic told her she’d only had a mild concussion, and after another check-up she’d be free to return home before the day was out. All she had left to do was to change back into her clothes and pick up her mobile, which had been found and returned to her by an anonymous bystander.

Jackie had them home in under an hour, and a worried Mickey was there to greet her at the doorstep. They spent the rest of the night eating a nice and quiet dinner together. Afterwards they installed the new locks Mickey had picked up for them at the department store while waiting for their return. She thanked him, hugged him and assured him that everything was fine before sending him back home. Her mother insisted on taking care of the clean-up, so Rose ended up in bed a lot earlier than she ever did on a Saturday night. But she was exhausted, and was snoring into her pillow ten minutes later.

In the days after the incident Rose couldn’t seem to get herself off the ground. She counted her days in relation to accident, as if waiting for something to happen even though she hadn’t any idea what it was. Between working, eating and sleeping she would spend hours in her room, rereading her research notes and even attempting to draw pictures of him. But she’d never been art person, and her lack of practice only irritated her further. Each sketch never did justice to the image she held in her mind. And as the days past, Rose felt it slip further and further away from her reach. 

A week later, Mickey planned a romantic evening in the hopes of taking her mind off the Doctor. But somehow she managed to ruin it, despite all the effort he put into it. This then led to a shouting match outside her flat. Through their entire relationship they had barely fought about anything, and Rose was surprised at his persistence on the matter. She felt shocked and insulted when he called her selfish, and claimed that she never paid enough attention to him anymore. But in the end it finished in much the same way as all their arguments did. Mickey mumbled a quick apology and a goodbye at the door, before heading back to his car.

By the time Rose reached the apartment, she was fuming. Jackie heard the whole conversation clearly from inside her shower, but put away her questions and kept herself busy in the kitchen when Rose passed her. Even if she hadn’t it wouldn’t have made a difference, since Rose had stormed straight to her room. She sat in the middle of her bed, among a heap of unwashed clothes and messy piles of papers. The wall behind her bed was covered with papers and drawings, a collage of everything she knew about the Doctor. Mickey’s words had been more or less a slap in the face, and as she looked on at the rough sketches she’d done they all seemed to agree with him. She could almost feel their judging gazes upon her.

About an hour later, she picked up her phone and called Mickey to ask if they could meet up the next morning. Without many words they agreed on a time and place, and she hung up. For the rest of the night all Rose could do was try to put the matter out of her mind.

The next day they met at the local park, next to the school which they’d both attended, although at different times. They sat together at a familiar bench, and Rose handed over a coffee and bagel as a peace offering for the night before. He accepted, and they hurriedly exchanged apologises and had their argument settled within minutes. It was all fairly standard procedure as their past make-ups went. But Rose had only done half the job she’d promised she’d do. With a shaky breath she prepared herself to tell him the truth. 

In her heart Rose had known how she really felt about him for some time then. She’d only been too afraid to hurt him to say it. And perhaps, she had grown too used to having him there. He was always beside her, if she ever needed someone to fall back on. But it was just that—Mickey couldn’t be her back-up if things went wrong. He deserved someone who loved him and put him first, and now she knew it wasn’t her. The truth was something that was long overdue. 

The pain in his face was plain when she finished what she wanted to say, but Rose knew she’d done the right thing. She could only hope that she wasn’t making things worse for him, by asking to still remain friends. As she expected Mickey wasn’t able to give her a proper reply, and could only promise to think about it. Rose was content with that.

She returned home that morning, already weary with the day. Unfortunately she had work in an hour, and decided to skip the walk home and just take her time getting to the café. The world around her seemed to be just waking up, ready for a new day of activity. Rose strolled past the quiet streets and into the busier areas of the city, where the sounds of cars locks and heels on pavement followed her. Rose closed her eyes and tried to imagine a pleasant tune out of the noise.

As she weaved through the sparse crowd on the sidewalk, she could have sworn that she was being followed by a woman. Rose couldn’t get a proper glance at her without looking suspicious. It was only when she reached the doorstep of her workplace that she turned around. But the curious woman was nowhere in sight. After another gaze at the crowd, Rose gave up and entered the café. 

By this time the woman had ducked into an empty alleyway, around the corner from the restaurant. In the shadow of the building behind her she released the heavy object in her hands. It hung from a sturdy strap across her shoulder and bumped against her hip. She then leaned against the brick wall, and cried hard into the palms of her hands.


	8. collision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor gets some unusual help to escape his death sentence.

The Doctor took a look at the chamber around him, noting the large amount of lavish decorations before him. The Family of Kaif spared no expense when they garnished the auction room with thick coral tapestries, and lined the walls with tables full of the greatest culinary delights from every planet. His stomach growled and he could almost have licked his lips if it weren’t for the unfortunately situation he was in.

There was a crowd of prospective bidders roaming around the wide room, making pleasant small talk and sipping drinks from their crystal glasses. Every so often the Doctor would catch a glance going his way, only to be greeted with a smirk or a grimace. These high society wealthy aristocrats were definitely not his sort of crowd, and this was not the place he’d imagined himself to finish his life at. But then again, he had very little choice over anything at the moment.

“What…”

The word was lost to the crowd of aliens, but the Doctor just managed to pick it up. It came from a member of the Family that was overlooking the day’s auction. It sat at the helm of the congregation, a long and grey-skinned creature with gaunt shoulders and small, old eyes. Regarding its prize with its cold gaze, it lifted a finger in the Doctor’s direction. By this point the Greebian servant behind him had noticed the disturbance in his master, and had gestured to another beside him. This Greebian then took a deep breath and blew hard into an instrument that resembled a French horn. An ear-piercing screech erupted in the chamber, and silence fell. 

“What…is…”

All the honoured guests now stood frozen in their places like statues. The Doctor could perceive a great amount of fear within their expressions. Apparently, things were already not going well. The Kaif had now his whole arm outstretched, his long, finger-like claws holding every single gaze within the room. There was a terrible pause before he spoke again.

“What is…this…thing…before me!?”

The crowd gasped with horror, and amidst the chaos the Doctor wondered how they hadn’t all fainted after holding their breaths for so long. Their reactions seemed too dramatic, and more comical than anything else. But his smile faded when he noticed that the object of displeasure was he himself. Suddenly every single eye of the crowd was watching him like a hawk. He found himself smiling nervously at his audience. 

“Uh…hello? I’m the Doctor…?”

Had he not already been confused at the current situation, the following statement from the Kaif certainly did it for him. 

“This is not the Doctor!”

And from then on all hell broke loose.

He tried to yell but there was little point, for he was drowned out by the screams and protests of the crowd around him. Aliens were dropping their belongings and rushing out the doors. Their sudden distress bewildered the Doctor further, until he saw the member of the Kaif stand up from his throne. Before he could blink it had shot out a long claw and pulled out the heart of the Greebian servant who had just offered it a drink. The other attendants begin to panic and run, but it only caused the Kaif to employ both arms in pinning down those who tried to escape. The Doctor knew then that there would be a bloodbath, and if he wasn’t careful he could be the final sacrifice. 

At this point his guards had long run off, and while that should have helped in his escape, he was now trapped within a frightened horde of aliens. Again the Doctor tried to yell, but he couldn’t even hear his own voice over the commotion. He was being pressed in at all directions, and could barely distinguish one alien arm from another’s chest. It also didn’t help that he was a full head shorter than most of the other guests. A round of gunshots was heard above the din, probably from the bodyguards the Dealers had hired for such instances. But this only served to create more panic. Whatever was happening, the Doctor needed to get out of it, fast.

He was pushed to the ground by what felt like the spiked tail of a Traxalore. His forehead hit the floor hard, and he managed to shift his head out of the path of a frightened Pratchet’s rear end just in the nick of time. Now terribly disorientated, The Doctor faced the threat of being trampled to death. 

All of a sudden, he felt two strong arms around his waist. The next moment he was lifted up high, almost above the heads of the crowd, as if he were the weight of a baby. The Doctor could see the remaining creatures scrambling over each other towards the exit, but he couldn’t see who had picked him up. Judging by the arms around his torso it was a human. Whoever it was, the Doctor was extremely relieved to be saved from a death by an alien stampede. That would definitely have been a bad way to go.

The Doctor and his saviour were now shuffling slowly but surely towards one of the exits. Due to his helpless position, he had nothing else to do but take a good look at his surroundings. A number of bodies were scattered before the front of the chamber; they were the Greebians and other aliens who had been too slow in escaping. At this point their murderer was nowhere to be found. Each body had experienced death instantly, as each had fallen to their knees just as their hearts were ripped from their chests. The Doctor’s face darkened. He’d known about the Family of Kaif’s indomitable rule and their obsession with perfection that came with grave consequences, but he’d never seen their work in person. And now that he had, the Doctor was fuming. He decided that it could go on no longer.

By this point the pair had made it through a doorway and into the main waiting hallway. The crowd had spread out, all fleeing towards their spaceships in order to put as much distance as they could between themselves and Jebordim. The Doctor knew that they would be hunted and killed for simply participating in such a disastrous event, and only to satisfy the bloodlust of a Kaif. It gave him a terrible feeling in his bones. But he before he could return and exact justice, he would need to be put down and unbound. This however didn’t seem to be what his rescuer had in mind. The Doctor was very much still slung uncomfortably over the man’s shoulder like a knapsack. It was possible that the human was just another bounty hunter, and that he was going from one prison into another. 

Nevertheless, the Doctor was determined to stay optimistic. He decided to speak up.

“Hello there, I’m the Doctor, though you probably know that since you specifically grabbed me from the crowd, and well… uh, do you mind if you let me go now?”

He waited a good minute or so for a response before trying again.

“Hey, thanks for helping me out back there…things were getting a little sticky, though I could have handled it just fine by myself—“

At his remark he felt the man’s shoulders lift in a smirk. It was a gesture that suddenly pulled at something deep within the Doctor that it shocked him into silence. He couldn’t seem to place where he’d heard it, or match it to a particular name or face either. It only served to make him all the more curious as to whom his mysterious rescuer was. And it wasn’t as if he got the pleasure of being saved all the time, anyway.

“…who are you? And do I know you?”

“I don’t think so, mate. I’d remember a bumbling ape like you any day.” 

The Doctor hadn’t expected an answer to that question. But at the same time the human seemed to have voiced his thought out loud as well. This puzzled the Doctor even more. And was he mistaken, but had he called him a ‘bumbling ape’?

“Do ya mind?”

“…oh, sorry.” 

The Doctor removed the elbow he’d perched on the man’s back, and gave up trying to find a comfortable position. He was already feeling ill at ease in the presence of the strange man. From his view he could see that he wore the robe of a Headless Monk, but then again didn’t they have no heads to talk with? Obviously he was a human dressed up as a Monk then. Perhaps a friend from the past, who’d found out about his capture and had come to save the day. It hadn’t happened often enough through the years, but there’s always a first. But somehow he got the feeling that this wasn’t one of those occasions.

It was a while later when the Doctor began to get a headache from being held upside down for such a long period of time. He decided to try one last time.

“Don’t you think you should put me down now? It’s not like I can run anywhere.”

He was once again ignored, but by now his patience had run thin. “Hello? Can you hear me? I said you can put me down now.”

“Not a chance. Now hang tight.”

All of a sudden his rescuer (or his new kidnapper) burst into a sprint as he rounded a corner. The Doctor had no idea what was happening, but he reckoned that it had something to do with the pair of Greebian guards he could see within running distance to them. They seemed to have caught onto their trail. They were now running, and the Doctor realised that the so-called monk had been considerate by going at a leisurely pace. Now his head was being slammed into the other man’s back with every stride he took. 

The running and turning continued for a while longer, though it felt much worse for the Doctor, who had to swerve and duck to avoid colliding with walls and pillars. During this time he had also taken the opportunity to protest and struggle as much as possible, but without avail. By the time they’d slowed down to a halt, he had tired himself out too much to notice the change in their surroundings.

“Here we are, safe and sound. For now, at least.”

The Doctor’s head was spinning. He felt himself gently lowered onto a seat, and turned his head to rest on the cool fabric. Now that he was up the right way his headache would recede, and he’d be able to make sense of the new situation he was in. From what he’d seen so far he’d been brought into a room of some sort, with eerie lighting. At least it didn’t look like a prison. His mysterious monk was a rescuer, then. 

With caution he opened one eye, then another, to take a good proper look at the man. He had his back turned to him, and was fiddling with something on a monitor in front of him. But as the Doctor’s vision cleared, he realised that his situation had not improved at all. It had only gotten a whole lot worse.

As if on cue, the monk stopped what he was doing to turn towards the other man. With a feeling of dread, the Doctor watched as he pulled off his hood—and came face to face with a rougher version of himself.


	9. crossed lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two geniuses in the TARDIS was always too much.

“…what!?”

The Doctor couldn’t help but stare. He almost had to stop himself from reaching out a hand to touch his other face. His younger self regarded him with an eye roll and a frown. Is that how he’d looked when he did that? Now he understood why everyone had always called him the grumpy one. The expression, along with the large leather jacket and the arms crossed in front of the chest did make an intimidating figure. And had his forehead really wrinkled that much? If he’d known he’d come across as such a cranky old man he would have tried to frown less, or even smile more. Back then appearances had always been a minor priority, at least before he started inviting people on-board again. 

Although he made sure never to mention it, the Doctor quite liked the way he’d turned out this time round.

“Figures. I save an ape from death by a Kaif, and what do I get in return? The bloody idiot is out of his mind.” 

The statement drew the Doctor back to his senses. He still had a million and one questions to ask himself. For example, how in the world had they crossed timelines, and how had his previous self come to his rescue? He’d obviously been brought back to his younger self’s TARDIS, and the sheer likeness of it to his own sent shivers down his spine. The Doctor could also feel the other man’s gaze on him as he took in the sight of the console room.

“Yes, we’re in a box that is bigger on the inside, and it’s a spaceship that can travel in time and sp—“

At the start of this all-too-familiar line, the Doctor managed to regain his voice. “I know! I…know, about all of it. And that’s because I’m…”

“Apparently not as stupid as I thought.” His younger self flashed him a quick smile. “So, where do I drop you off?”

This question startled the Doctor. “What? …w-why?”

He watched as the other man’s eyebrow rose in question, and decided that it was high time that he stopped being considered as a ‘pitiful human’. While his other self turned to push more levers and check the monitor, he stood up from his seat and pulled nervously at his dirtied shirt. The fabric was thin and it just didn’t feel right without his suit jacket on. He thought about the possessions that had been taken off of him when he‘s been captured, making a note to himself to pick them up, along with his own TARDIS. But right now the Doctor had a big mess of a timeline to fix up.

“Well? What’s it gonna be?” His younger self fixed him with an impatient stare. It only made it more difficult for the Doctor to get the words out of his own mouth.

“Uh, listen. I’m the Doctor, and y—”

He was interrupted by a rough chuckle and another sceptical look. “Yeah, sure you are. Did you tell them that when they took you? I don’t know what they were thinking; you don’t look a thing like me!”

“No, it’s not that… I’m you! Well, I will be eventually, I guess…”

“Sorry buddy, but I don’t keep fans. Now you can stop blabbering, and tell me where you wanna go.”

The Doctor found himself without a reply to this comment and instead resigned himself to his seat. It had been simply uncanny how often he’d bumped into himself along the way; it was only about a year since he’d seen off his 5th regeneration into his own TARDIS. And there had never been enough time to really have a good look. For instance, he now agreed with the others that the ears were a terrible sight. Rose had never really mentioned them, unless she’d been angry at him and had run out of insults to throw his way. The distant memory tickled something in his chest, and brought a smile to his lips. Now those days seemed so far away. 

Wait—Rose. Something was wrong.

“Where’s Rose?” When he didn’t receive an immediate reaction he put himself between the other Doctor and the consoles he’d been fiddling with. “Have you met her yet? It must be early days. I’m thinking just after the…”

The Doctor took a staggered step away from the other man.

“What’s wrong?”

“You… I…I don’t remember this. I don’t remember this at all. It hasn’t been that long, and I usually remember it when I meet myself, although I forget the details, but this, this… is different. This can’t be happening.”

The Doctor was fixed with another ‘why-are-humans-so-stupid’ look, but it no longer mattered now. Frankly, he was shocked that he hadn’t noticed it before. It wasn’t just a lapse in memory on his part, for he’d definitely remember rescuing a fake version of himself from a black market auction. It could only mean one thing. He was in fact not looking at a previous incarnation of himself, but a Doctor from another universe. 

He was from a parallel universe, just like the Rose he’d met that morning. 

“Hey…you okay?”

It was only when the other Doctor’s hands were around his shoulders and shaking them that he realised the question had been directed at him. His alternate self fixed him with a perplexed expression. Instead he ignored him, shrugged the hands off his shoulders and grasped the other man’s arm. 

“Alright, time to explain. I’m the Doctor, I’m another you, except that I’m from a different universe, which is why I don’t remember having to save myself when I was you. Somehow one of us has crossed universes.”

“What? You gotta be joking.”

The Doctor remained quiet and watched his younger self go through the motions. At first he was chuckled at, his voice deep and with a warm, coarse quality that he rarely remembered having had exhibited. But the tenseness in his shoulders remained, and after he’d had his fill of laughter his expression sobered into one of fiery intensity. The Doctor suddenly felt himself at the receiving end of his own infamous ‘Ongoing Storm’ glare. Although a little unnerved, he waited patiently as his other self took a step back and inspected him properly. 

“God, I look like a gangly teenager! Is this what I’m gonna look like in the future?”

The Doctor was about to bark out a retort when he noticed the change in the other man’s voice. It had softened at the end of the sentence, and he could see his expression change from incredulous to downcast as he realised the meaning behind his words. It had to be early days for this Doctor then. 

He could remember a time when the regrets and tragedies from the Time War would plague him, and the thought of the future held nothing but solitude and duty. It was one of his darkest times, and the Doctor could very well imagine how the appearance of his future self wouldn’t be received with great enthusiasm. By now the other Doctor had walked back round to face his future regeneration. They now shared the same solemn expression. 

“You said that you’re from a parallel universe, right? But that’s not…”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happened. Nothing feels off on my end, at least.” He paused, and pushed his fingers through his dishevelled hair. “My past and your future aren’t exactly the same. We must have taken different paths.”

There was silence between the two Doctors as each of them tried to make sense of what was happening to them. Then suddenly the younger man remembered something.

“You said Rose…as in Rose Tyler?”

“Yes…yes,” The Doctor had forgotten to ask about her, though the thought had prompted him to action in the first place. “Have you met her yet?” 

From his position near the console he tried to get a look at the corridors in the hope of catching a glimpse of her. She could even recognise him from before. The chance to meet another Rose, although she would never be his Rose, simultaneously excited and frightened him. But then again it would only confuse her to see them both. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea. Instead, he looked back at his other self. He was frowning. 

“Yeah, but we didn’t really meet. She was a hostage to the Slitheen, and they had—”

“Wait, what? A hostage? You didn’t you meet her in the basement of that department store? You know, with the Living Plastic and the Nestene Consciousness?” 

The other Doctor’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “No. I only met her when I was at Downing Street.”

But the Doctor had stopped listening. The Rose he’d met that morning had never encountered the Doctor, and it was because her Doctor, the man in front of him, had somehow not met her that day at Henrik’s. Perhaps he’d chosen another day to investigate, or she hadn’t been at work to be caught up in his mess. As the Doctor now looked around the TARDIS he recognised the minute differences between her and his own spaceship. He couldn’t put his finger on it but it was just… different. The feeling sank to the bottom of his stomach.

This was a Doctor who had never met Rose Tyler. The thought brought on such a sudden wave of sorrow that he had to turn away from his counterpart. Looking back at his own past, he couldn’t imagine what he would be like if she had never been a part of his life. He’d been so angry and full of guilt, hardened by what he’d done and resigned to a life of repentance. After the war he wanted nothing but to fade into the shadows, and never feel happy or loved ever again. And he would have succeeded, if he’d never known Rose.

But he did, and the Doctor would always be grateful for it. Rose Tyler was the miracle girl, she was the Bad Wolf and the Defender of the Earth. And she had saved his life. He could feel the tears pricking his eyes now. The memories were returning at their strongest now, and as he stood within the TARDIS of a lonely travelling Doctor he found that he hadn’t the heart to deny them. They’d done so much together and gone so far, and during all that time she’d never stopped surprising him or teaching him new things. She knew; she had to know how important she was to him. But he’d never said so in words, and somehow that made all the difference. Now he’d never get the chance to say it.

The Doctor looked at the parallel version of himself and felt pity. This Doctor deserved to be happy; he deserved to feel alive. And he was sure that the Rose he’d left behind would want to be with this big-eared, grumpy old Doctor as well. Together they could flourish, and perhaps succeed where he had failed. It was up to him to make sure they got the chance to.

“You’ve got to find Rose.”

“What?”

The Doctor walked straight up to his other self and fixed him with an intense stare. He almost had to stop himself from shouting. “You have to go find Rose. You need to travel with her.”

“And why should I do that?”

“Trust me, you…”

Once again the other man gave him his most incredulous look. But there was something within it, or perhaps something missing, that made the Doctor think twice. He couldn’t simply tell this version of himself to find Rose and take her with him. It wasn’t his universe and it wasn’t his place to do so. This was a Doctor who, without meaning to, had made a decision that meant he would never meet Rose Tyler in the basement of Henrik’s. There were a countless number of universes out there where everything that ever could happen occurred, and he couldn’t just change them all to fit how he’d lived his life. Not even if it was done for the greater good. 

“What? What is it?”

The Doctor could imagine the life his alternate self could have had with Rose Tyler. It would have been just as beautiful and fantastic and terrible as his own had been. Perhaps things would have gone a different way. Perhaps he would have found a way to save her for himself. But then again, they were two people with different lives to live. All of a sudden the Doctor felt the urge to leave.

“Nothing…it’s nothing. I’ve…got to go now. Gotta get back to my own TARDIS, and all. And those Kaif aren’t getting off scotch-free either. Got lots to do, and so I best be off now.”

Ignoring any responses from his alternate self, the Doctor hurried his way down the ramp and towards the exit. As expected he was followed there, and so he paused at the doors and turned to the other man with an encouraging smile. Before he could really think about what he was doing, he took the other’s hand in his.

“It’s been great, really great meeting you. I hope you have some great adventures soon, and uh… well good luck with it all.” It was then that the smile faded. “And, I’m…I’m sorry.”

In a swift movement he released the other Doctor’s hand, yanked open the door and stepped outside. Without bothering to close it behind him he then began to put as much distance between himself and the other TARDIS as possible. It was only when he could no longer hear the other Doctor’s calls that he relaxed to a slower pace. After a while he slowed down to a halt against a nearby wall and let go of the breath he’d been holding. His chest shuddered as the air escaped. He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair and down over his eyes.

“I’m so, sorry…”


	10. wake up call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Rose goes through a rough time, her mysterious stalker is the one to help her out.

By the third day Rose was absolutely sure that she was being followed. It only ever occurred on her walk to work, since she’d started walking instead of catching the bus every morning. The first time it had been a breath of fresh air, and she really felt that she’d needed it. So the habit had grown. It was always good to get more exercise, since she never had the time or the motivation for the gym, and plus the less she had to pay for transport, the better. But she had no tolerance for stalkers.

Rose would always notice the presence at the junction on the main street, never earlier or later. It seemed that her stalker was wary of being acknowledged, for they chose an area that was certain to be fairly populated at the time of her walk. And no matter what Rose did she’d never gotten a good look at her follower. From the corner of her eye she knew it to be a woman, blonde and wearing a simple dark jacket and pants, but she’d never gotten a look at her face. Rose would have admired her ability to hide so well, if it weren’t for the danger she posed to herself.

Why she had a constant stalker Rose had no idea. Though since her life with aliens had begun, she was more open to the idea of it than before. She found herself in a habit of referring to the time before the first alien incident to be the ‘Pre-Doctor’ days. It was Rose’s firm belief that nothing in her life would ever change her as much as her meeting with the Doctor had. If only she could find him again. 

Over the next week she tried to alter her route to work. But despite setting out 15 minutes earlier just to take a longer path, she always had to pass by the main street, and that was where she felt watched. Of course the simpler option would be just to take a bus and not make any eye contact with any other person on the way, but Rose didn’t seem satisfied with that answer. Somehow she’d developed a more daring approach to life since she’d started her hunt for the Doctor. 

A couple of days later, Mickey broke their longest period of avoidance so far by popping over in the afternoon. Even before they were dating they’d always been the best of friends, and Rose had been worried sick about how he was taking their break up. They spent an evening watching tv with her overprotective mother, who asked too many questions during the pauses in conversation. But although he was a little distant, she was glad that he’d felt good enough to be around her. The last thing she’d want was to lose his friendship. Once Jackie gave them some time alone, she took the opportunity to thank him and tell him how important he was to her. She always felt that she never told him enough.

Since things between her and Mickey had calmed down, Rose found herself much more at ease. She was still impatient and had a thousand questions to ask about her alien encounters, but time had worn away her initial enthusiasm. She’d even taken Harriet up on her offer to talk, and when she’d finally plucked up the courage to call the woman had been very understanding. There were few people Rose could talk to about the things that had happened to her, so she valued the few conversations they’d managed to have. What she still couldn’t believe was that she had found a friend in the current Prime Minister of Britain. She made sure not to mention the fact to anyone else. 

For a while, nothing happened. However it seemed that whenever she’d convinced herself that everything was back to normal, life threw her another curve ball. On the morning of Christmas Eve Rose left the apartment for work and was shocked to find that the sun was clouded by an enormous spaceship in the sky. Before she knew what was happening she heard yelling and screaming. People were walking themselves to the roofs of the buildings, completely unfazed by any attempts to stop them. They stood at the edge of every building rooftop, one step away from mass suicide. Their loved ones could only stand by, helpless.

Rose ran back inside to check on her mother, and when she’d found her at the table just as she’d left her she called to check on Mickey. Once they switched on the telly they were bombarded with distressing new reports on all channels. Apparently the crisis was not just in London, but all over the world. She’d gone to work, only to find that half of the staff were standing on the roof, right next to their new neon light welcome sign. Unable to help them, she’d returned home to wait for an update on the situation.

Rose had no doubt that the spaceship in the sky was of alien origin, and that the people were being controlled by extra-terrestrial means. And on Christmas Eve, of all days. In an effort to divert her daughter’s attention, Jackie threw herself into preparing a feast for dinner, and decorating the house with gaudy decorations. Rose was swept up by her mother’s determined enthusiasm, and sent on constant errands to the shops for mayonnaise and other useless things. Sometime in the afternoon there was an emergency broadcast from the Prime Minister herself. Rose had refrained from calling her, for she was sure that she’d be too busy to chat. But when Harriet made a personal plea for the Doctor to help them, it resonated with something inside of her. All of a sudden Rose found herself in tears.

Ignoring her mother’s questions, she ran up to her room, slamming the door shut behind her. It was in much the same state as always; covered with unfolded clothes and cluttered with the research she’d done. Rose felt so fed up at everything, and mostly at herself. How many times had she fallen asleep, wishing that she could find him? She’d been acting like a child who’d been deprived her favourite toy. And what was it that she wanted from him? Harriet’s plea for the Doctor would go unanswered, just like every one of hers had been. Almost two years she’d been searching for him, and it had come to nothing. It was high time to move on.

Without grace, Rose picked up a stack of papers and threw them at the bin. All the notes she’d carefully numbered and organised on her desk were thrown in the air. She yelled and cried as she stood within the swirl of papers, falling like autumn leaves all around her. It was only when her eyes were dry and the sobs had died down in her chest that she remembered herself. Ashamed of her childish tantrum, she picked up a large garbage bag from the kitchen and piled all of her research into it. After an hour of clean-up her room was significantly neater, and the bag was tied up and sitting outside the bins, ready to be forgotten. 

Rose then collapsed onto her bed, thoroughly exhausted. A few minutes later her mother came to check up on her, and seeing that she was resting, draped a blanket over her and pressed her lips to her forehead. Soon after, she succumbed to sleep. 

Hours later she was woken by her mother’s excited yells. As soon as she lifted her head Jackie had yanked her upright and draped a winter coat over her shoulders.

“They’re gone now Rose! That spaceship is gone, and everyone’s come down from the roof! And now it’s snowing!”

When she was met with confusion, Jackie gestured towards the window. Surely enough, a gentle layer of snow was falling and gathering upon the window sill. Rose couldn’t believe her eyes. Her mother gave her a hug, before giving her a nudge towards the door. She took off out the door and down the stairs before she could think twice about wearing her boots or changing into something warmer. The air was not as cold as it should have been for snow, but the chill still forced a gasp from her lips. Rose took a deep breath in and out, feeling her body come back to life. The snow was light, but gaining momentum quickly. It settled on her hair and on the top of her ears, but she was too caught up in soaking in the atmosphere to care. Her mother joined her moments later with two cups of hot tea, along with her neighbours, and together they stood under the stars and let the snow whisk away their fears.

The next morning Rose woke up late. As she sat up in her bed she noticed how empty her bedroom felt. She regretted what she’d done the day before, but now there was little to be done. All the papers had probably been taken away. So instead she rose and put on a light robe, determined not to cast a shadow on the day’s events. Her mother greeted her with a warm hug and kiss, and the two enjoyed a breakfast of gingerbread and other leftover pastries. Afterwards they sat around their crooked little Christmas tree and swapped presents. Rose was delighted with her new silver watch, while her mother marvelled at her new pair of flaming red boots. She hadn’t missed the not-so-subtle hints Jackie had dropped every time they went to the mall. 

Some time after cleaning up, Rose heard the sound of the rubbish vehicle outside. Before she knew what she was doing she was sprinting down the stairs. But by the time she arrived the truck was halfway down the road. She walked over to the bins and saw that it had been emptied, without a bag left behind. With a heavier heart she turned back to the apartment. 

But as she got to her front door she noticed a large white box leaning against the wall. She must have missed it when she ran for the truck. Rose looked closer at the package and saw that a sticky note had been attached on the lid. It was a brief note, written in a very familiar scrawl.

‘Don’t stop looking for him. You’ll find him in the end, trust me.’ 

Bewildered, she pulled the lid off the box. Inside was her research, including all the books she’d borrowed and the notepads she’d filled out. To her further surprise it was in almost the same order as it had been originally, which was a miracle considering her unique filing system, or lack thereof. Rose took several glances at the other doors and at any people who stood below. No one looked out of place, and she didn’t recognise her stalker either. She hadn’t a clue how someone managed to pull it off, but nevertheless it brought a smile to her lips. She couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present. Without further hesitation she picked up the box and carried it to her bedroom.


	11. onwards and downwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day for their fated meeting finally comes.

No matter how she tried to concentrate, Rose could not stop watching the man in the park. She was minding her own business in a quiet corner of the park across from the Estate, trying to finish the novel she’d started almost a year ago. It had been on sale at the library, and the cover had caught her eye, but like the rest of the books she owned Rose never found the time to read them. And now that she’d found a free hour to finish the book once and for all, her attention was straying.

Rose was still searching for the Doctor, but more in the form of keeping an eye out for any strange alien-like occurrences. She’d summarised all her information of him into a neat ring folder, which she’d take out to read through any time she felt like it. Every day she’d check the tv and internet for any news of him, and if there was anything worth investigating she would try to find out as much as she could about it. In some occasions Jackie permitted her to travel to the sites in question, but only if they were within the country. Though her search so far had not yielded results, Rose had discovered many things about the world that she would never have known before. It was disheartening not to find him, but she tried her best to stay positive.

Things had truly calmed down since the Christmas Eve incident. She’d found a decent place at a café, and was now working as their barista. Things with Mickey and her mother had been fairly smooth, now that they were all in on her alien experience. She’d found herself with more time on her hands. Later on she’d tripped over a pile of books on the floor, and decided to finish them off in order to put them away in her cupboard. And that was how she’d ended up there.

But despite all her efforts, Rose wasn’t much of a reader. The plot was tasteless, and she was having much more fun watching the man’s strange behaviour at the other end of the park. She’d looked on as he’d first come out of a large bush, coughing and spluttering, a cloud of smoke behind him. He then got up from his knees, brushed down his dark jacket and ran headlong into the bushes again. Rose held back a chuckle as he came back out only to rush back in, getting more and more frustrated with each attempt. What he was doing in the bushes was something Rose suspected she’d be less than pleased about, but she wasn’t going to poke her nose into someone else’s business. At least it provided some entertainment.

She returned to her novel and managed another two pages before her curiosity got the better of her. Now the man was standing in front of the bush, hands on hips and scowling, though she couldn’t be sure from where she sat. Then he lifted his chin, scanned his surroundings and settled his gaze squarely on her. Rose straightened in surprise and, in a moment of panic, brought her book straight up to cover her face. She cursed herself for making it so obvious that she was avoiding his gaze. A few moments later Rose took a peak from above the pages. But instead of moving on, the stranger was now walking straight up to her. His strides were large, his expression fairly distressed and unfortunately his eyes were still locked upon her. Before long the tall man arrived at the bench and took a seat beside her.

Rose was a little worried, first by his intense staring and now by the awkward conversation they were sure to have. But she noted that though he was moody he seemed harmless enough. She decided that after watching him go through all that trouble in the first place, she had a duty to help him out if she could. She cleared her throat before she spoke.

“Something I can help you…with?”

He lifted his gaze from his boots to her face. She saw a series of emotions flit across his face like a slideshow. It had all happened so quickly, but Rose did pick up a look of coldness within his eyes before they softened and his lips broke into a tiny smile. She found herself taken aback by the intensity of expressions he was showing her. What in the world had he been up to in those bushes? It was only a while later before Rose remembered herself and looked away.

“You’re name is Rose Tyler, right?”

From the first word that escaped his lips Rose froze on the spot. She knew that voice, not because she’d heard it many times before, but because the person it belonged to was unforgettable. It had been burned into her memory. Suddenly the strange man beside her felt so familiar, and she realised that he was wearing the exact same set of pants and shoes as those she’d seen. After all the effort she’d put in to find him, she’d still missed him when he sat right next to her. But at that moment she had other things to do apart from give herself a lecture.

“You…you’re…” 

Now that it was the big moment, one that she’d dreamt of who knows how many times, she hesitated. It was one thing to turn it over and over in her mind, and another to speak it to the real person. Assuming that it was the Doctor, which she was almost certain it was. But he seemed to understand her reluctance, and spoke for her.

“Yeah, I’m the Doctor and you’re Rose Tyler; human being from the 21st century, 21 years old, born on the 6th of November and living at 15 Powell Estates with your mother. You make coffee and tea at that café down the street. Your dad past away when you were young, and you’ve got a boyfriend named Ricky Smith. Did I miss anything else?”

From the flabbergasted look she was giving him, he kept talking. “Okay then. We met at Downing Street, where you rammed into me and bumped your noggin on the chair and past out. Remember that? Well so you know, I dragged you out.”

He got nothing but her silent stare in return. The Doctor felt slightly irked, but continued to talk.

“You can forget about thanking me… and if you’re gonna cry or something don’t get anything on my jacket, alright?” 

Rose was taken aback by his guarded demeanour. “…thank you. For saving me, I mean.”

He shrugged, and after a pause Rose realised that it was all she was getting from this Doctor. She decided that if there was ever going to be a better time to ask him all the questions she’d been dying to ask for years, now would be it. For who knew when he’d decide to up and off without another word? 

“How…how do you know all that stuff about me? And why do you talk like that?”

“Talk like what?”

“Like you’re from another world.”

She received a scoff from this reply. There was a niggling feeling of worry in the back of her mind, but she pushed it away and carried on. 

“It’s just…she was right. You’re not a human, are ya? You’re an alien?”

Now her eyes were looking for his, and he obliged her. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

So that was that, then. The Doctor was an alien, to be sure. Rose released a long breath, and all of a sudden a brilliant smile lit up her face. The Doctor was further perplexed by this reaction.

“So tell me everything. You’re an alien, and there’s a species of you running around, saving people from other alien attacks, is that it? You’re like the good aliens, taking care of us—I mean, the human race. God, you look so human! What sort of alien are you? You’re not like those…those Slitheens who kidnapped me, right?”

She was about to raise a hand to pinch his cheek in order to test the theory, when the Doctor interrupted her.

“Wait, a species of me? A species of Doctors?” He scoffed again and gave her his most sceptical look. “Now you’ve gotta be joking me. There’s only one Doctor, I’m the Doctor, thank you very much.” There was another eye roll before he continued. “No wonder the apes never got anywhere, with brains like these.”

“Hey!” She made an attempt at hitting his arm, in the same way he’d pushed her hand away before, but decided against it. She took a breath and tried again. 

“But there’s more of you out there, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve met two Doctors so far, and—”

“What? You met another me?” Suddenly, she had his complete attention.

“If you’d stop interrupting me, I’ll explain it to you!”

Rose fixed him with a formidable glare, which made his obediently relinquish his fierce expression. 

“I met him when a bunch of aliens were attacking me. They were called Hashes, at least that’s what he said. He said he was the Doctor as well.”

“What’d he look like?”

“Tall, skinny, bit of spiked hair. Wore a brown overcoat and a suit inside.” She purposely left out the fact that he was also quite a looker, which wouldn’t have improved this Doctor’s opinion of her at all. But it seemed that whatever she’d said had struck a chord within the man beside her. He looked pensive, and suddenly very far away. For another minute or so they sat in silence. Rose began to rethink what she’d told him when he abruptly stood up.

“Right then, Rose Tyler. You wanna know about me and what I do? Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

He stood in front of the bench, his figure towering over hers. The gleam in his eyes had returned along with his dazzling smile, and Rose found herself unable to look anywhere else but at him. He held out a hand, his elbow extended and fingers outstretched, ready to receive her hand. 

A moment later, Rose Tyler stood up and accepted his gesture. Their smiles mirrored each other’s as he led her towards the bushes where she’d first spotted him, and into the blue box that stood behind it.


End file.
